CHERUB - New Recruits
by clairebear234
Summary: What happens when a young Australian girl is recruited to CHERUB, a branch of British Intelligence that uses children as spies to take down criminal masterminds that never suspect children are spying on them. The original books are by Robert Muchamore. Special Thanks to 21kittens for helping me edit. she is the BEST friend ever. please leave a review, Thanks!
1. Prologue

Prologue

I was in a shack of some sort. It was dark, damp and scary. It reminded me slightly of those horror movies where the girl finds this shack and curiosity gets the better of her and then, well, you know the saying, 'curiosity killed the cat.' Except this was different, I didn't wander over here, I was kidnapped. So was my family.

We have been tied up for ages, until finally, a man comes in. He is holding something in his hand; I can't see it because of the dark. I know but it's something bad when my older sister, Sam, starts shaking beside me. That's when he steps into the beam of light. It's a gun. He lifts it up, points it at my dad, and pulls the trigger.

No, this can't be happening, I'm in the middle of a dream, and any moment now I will wake up. He aims it at my mum. Sam starts screaming into her gag. He shoots her. I shriek as I see the life leave my mum, the same way it left my dad. No, this can't be happening. Next is Sam. He lifts the gun, points at her head and, after a minute, pulls the trigger. I scream again. Max, sitting beside starts to cry.

He is only 5; he doesn't understand what is happening, does he? He will only want to hug mum and go back to sleep. He raises the gun but before he has time to shoot, the door burst open, allowing a stream of light to come in, allowing me to get a clear view at the man who just killed 3 innocent people, and planned to kill more.

I suddenly let out a scream, as the police bash the door down and they shoot the man in the arm as he tries to run for it. They take him down and I can feel myself slowly fading away, with the sound of Max's crying right beside me.

Hey, this is my first ever story... do you like it? Please leave a review, i would really appriciate it. Also, Thanks so much to 21kittens, she was an awesome biffle and edited this for me! PLEASE REVIEW i like to know what people think... EATEN BY A UNICORN IN A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!


	2. Chapter 1

Found

I could feel myself waking up to the sound of a slow beep. It was calming, almost sent me back under until I heard someone talking. Will she make it?" "I'm not sure, so far has been good, she will most likely wake up within the next few days." What? But I was awake now, wasn't I? Curious as to what they were talking about, and who was talking, I slowly opened my eyes.

I was in a pristine room, with cream coloured walls and white ceiling. The place was unfamiliar; it wasn't my room, or my friends. I look to the left and see a heart monitor, A HEART MONITER! It was off though, what was I doing in a room with a heart monitor, that's turned off? Something was wrong, but I didn't know what.

I looked to my right to see to ladies, both too engrossed in their conversations to even notice me. I slowly start to sit up, but as soon as I start, a throbbing pain erupts in my head, as if I had just been hit by a sledge hammer. I cry out in pain, involuntarily.

The two women look over at me. One looks the relieved, the other completely shocked. "Miss Veil, you are awake, finally, how are you feeling?" The relieved looking lady asks, looking worriedly at me. What? What exactly happened? Who were these people? Question after question fired into my head, I choose to stick with a simple one. "Where am I?" I ask my throat hurting as I speak. "You are at the hospital, what's the last thing I remember?" She replies.

What was the last thing I remember? Couldn't have asked an easier question could you? Just woke up here. "Umm… Yesterday morning, I woke up, Sam and I were arguing, we went to the city and then." I stopped, as the memories flowed back. "Mum, Dad, Sam" I say these last words slowly, as the images flash through my mind. Oh no, what has happened, it wasn't just a dream, it was real.

Tears start to flow freely from my eyes. What happened to them? What about max, was he okay? "Where's max?" I manage to croak out through the tears. "He's safe, don't worry. He's fine, just resting. Here have this," She says, as she offers me a glass of water. I take it gratefully, gulping mouthful after mouthful until the glass is empty. "Thank you," That's all I say.

I can't say much more. Mum, dad, Sam, oh no, why did this happen to me? I started crying again. I couldn't help it. The lady cam e over, hugged me and rubbed circles on my back. It's all right. She says, over and over again. After what feels like hours, I finally stop and lift my head of her shoulder. "When can I see max?" I ask the worry must be clear in my eyes because she answers right away. "He's right across the hall, let me go fetch him," And with that, she leaves the room, with only the shocked looking, well not anymore, lady with me.

"Hello, my name is Dr Jane, are you feeling any pain, anywhere in your body?" I begin to shake my head, when the throbbing pain comes back. I hold me head and cry out. She rushes over and lays me back down. "Stay still, moving around will only make it worse." She says this as she examines my head. "It's badly bruised, but I don't think there should be any lasting damage." I feel reassured by her words.

They next thing I know, Max has run into the room "Charlie!" He exclaims, clearly happy to see someone he knows. "Hey max, how are you doing?" I ask him, putting on the sweet voice I always use on Max and other little kids. "I want mummy and daddy." He says this with a small pout on his face.

He just looked so adorable, I didn't realise what he had asked for a moment. I had started to smile at him, only slightly, before frowning. "Max, you can't see mummy and daddy right now, okay?" I explain and ask him, still using the sweet voice. Max isn't okay though, he starts bawling his eyes out to me. Oh no, what do I do now? I start rubbing his back and hugging him. He calms down a bit, but is still sniffling as we part.

"It's all right max, but now I'm going to be looking after you now, it'll be alright." I assure him. He looks at me for a bit, before curling up into a ball on my lap, and hugging me around the stomach. I felt bad, Max only got five years with them, and I got 10 and a half. The relieved looking lady, or, well, once relieved looking one, came up to us and said.

"Hello, I am Officer Ashley, but just call me Ash, umm, we need to sort you two out, and you know, where you will stay and all that." She says. Oh no, we only ever had 2 aunties. One is dead, she died in a car crash 3 years ago and the other is in prison for hacking into some important military sites network. All my grandparents were dead and well, both my parents, you know what happened. I have got one cousin, but he is 17 and already ion juvenile prison. Yep, I got such a happy family.

Whoever isn't dead is in prison or foster care. "We will be sending you to a foster care facility about 20 minutes away from here, so you know we are at St John of God hospital, Subiaco. They will drop you off there tomorrow morning, and tomorrow they will take you to your home to collect anything you may need." I nod in understanding. Great, just pure fantastic, I heard that Foster homes aren't good at all; I will have to keep an eye on max, to make sure he doesn't get bullied or mix with the wrong crowds.

I would have to pack the necessities for us tomorrow, but for now, I got some rest. That's when I realised something, "Hey, what's the time?" I ask, I was wondering about that earlier and needed to know. The blinds were closed outside so I had no idea. "It's 9 o'clock PM, I suggest you get some sleep, you have a big day ahead of you." Oh no, it was sooner than I thought. We only had sleep, and then we would be expected to move into some random stranger house.

Oh well, at least we don't have to stay with Aunt Valerie, she was the one in prison. I just would not be able to handle that and I don't thing Max would be able to either. Anyway, we would end up in a foster home anyway, she would either put us there or get arrested which would land us there. I'd prefer to just go there without having to worry about her in the middle of it. I tell Max to go to bed and Ash leads him out of the room, most likely to his own room after saying good night to everyone.

I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight. One, because I only just woke up and two, the images of my family still haunt me. Sam, with her long, flowing light brown hair, blue eyes and slightly tanned skin. Living in Australia did have its advantages. I was tanned all year round. Dad, he had short, dirty blonde hair, with blue eyes as well as fair skin.

Mum, on the other hand, had the most tanned skin, dark brown hair and dark, almost black eyes. She was beautiful really, and I was a mix of the two. I had light brown hair, hazel, yet sometimes green eyes, and my skin was lightly tanned, I was in the middle. Max was like a mirror image of dad, except his skin was a little bit darker. I loved them; I couldn't get over the fact that a man had so heartlessly shot them and didn't even hesitate. I lay there thinking about it for a while, until I slowly find myself becoming suddenly sleepy, and slowly, I begin to finally fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Home

I woke up to the sound of a soft snoring beside me. Wait, beside me? Who's beside me? I open my eyes in alert to find Max curled up in a ball beside me. Right, he remembered the way here and fell asleep beside me. I looked at the clock on the wall; it was 8:00AM, crab apples! We are supposed to be gone by 9:00AM, oh no, first I have to wake up Max. I shook him gently, "Max, time to wake up," I whisper gently in his ear. He stirs slightly, "I want mummy and daddy." Oh no, what do I do now? He'll probably throw some full on tantrum.

"They aren't here right now, so I'm in charge and you have to listen to me, Okay?" I ask him, my fingers crossed behind my back. Please, please, please don't throw a tantrum. He nods his head sleepily. I sigh, relieved, and get up. "C'mon, we have to get ready, we're going out. I lift him of the bed. In the room, there's the turned off monitor, the bed, a cupboard with a lock on it, about three chairs and a small pile of clothes. There's two pairs of jeans, one in my size, the other in Max's. Then there is two shirts, one is red, with a print of a girl, the other blue, with bob the builder of it.

Then there is one hoodie, and a jumper, plus socks and shoes. I give Max all of his clothes, and I take my own. Seeing as we are the only ones in the room and I have seen Max naked, I had to change him for mum sometimes; I decide to dress max first. After I'm done with him, I tell him to wait there and go into the side room toilet, I quickly change and I'm out of there in about 1 minute.

That's all I do to get changed, no make-up and I don't really care about my hair, sometimes I give it a quick brush, but that's it. I come out to realise how badly I needed to use the toile. I rush back in and when I come out, max is on one of the chairs laughing along with Officer Ash. "Charlie, I can't believe Max remembers me, usually younger kids forget about me 2 minutes after I walk out the door." Ash says, clearly surprised. "He has a photographic memory, he remembers everyone he meets, I didn't even know they could get it so young," I answer, not sure whether or not I should tell her, she is supposed to help us right?

"Seeming as you're ready, even though it's still 8:45, I guess we can go." We head out the door and down the elevator to reception. Officer Ash checks us out and we head to the car. It's not a police car; it must be her own one from home. We get in, Max and I in the back seat, Ash, obviously, in the driver seat. The drive is mostly silent, apart from the music on the radio and Max's attempts to sing-along. After about 15 minutes, we pull up outside of a large house.

It's an off-white colour, with black roof tilings. We go to the front door, and Officer Ash knocks. After about 45 seconds, someone comes to the door. She's a younger looking girl with blond hair tied back in a ponytail. She is pretty with ocean blue eyes and fair skin. She smiles at us, "Welcome, I'm Anna, one of the house parents, come in, I will show you where you will be staying and then Dave will take you to get your stuff.

No one else is at home apart from 2 young girls who are about 3, who apparently only came last night, like us, the rest of their family is unable to look after them. We head upstairs to the bedrooms. First she shows Max his, it's a light baby blue with 2 beds inside. Max loves it, he jumps on the bed, which has no dressing, and starts giggling, we leave him there to enjoy it and head to my room.

It's only just down the hall, I'm sharing a room with a twelve year old girl, great, and she will probably try to boss me around. It's a really nice room, it has creamy pink walls and half the room is covered in posters. I guess that's her half of the room. The adults leave me alone to explore what will be my room for another 7 or so year.

As soon as I can I'm going to get out of here into my own home. I look around and the room has bed on top of the desk, like those bunk bed things, a set of drawers, a cupboard and a locker. I'm guessing that we have to share the cupboard because there is only one of them, but everything else there is two of. Well, looks like this is going to be my new home for a while. I look at the posters; they aren't of what you expect.

There are a few girly ones, like One Direction and Justin Bieber, but the others aren't. There are a few of different black belt martial arts, a gun, and taken apart and other, explosives, shown in a similar fashion. The pictures are nice; one has a group of people, I'm guessing are her friends are sitting together.

All the boys are in swimming trunks and the girls are in swim suits. The others have what look like her family, they look happy together; we never got a picture like that with our whole family, not ever. I'm guessing that one of the girls in both pictures is my roommate; she has long blonde hair, fair skin and freckles, a lot of freckles. She's pretty, I hope she likes me; I wouldn't last if she didn't.

There is a soft knock on my door, I recognise it to be Max, he always knocks in a certain rhythm, and I always know when it's him. I go over and open the door, letting my little brother in. He runs and goes to jump on my bed, until he realises that it's a bunk bed and you can't jump on the. He frowns slightly as I chuckle lightly.

I lift him onto my bed; I can only barely reach, and climb up after him. He lies down and pretends to snore with his eyes closed; he falls for this every time. I creep up, or crawl up technically, until I am practically above him, and unleash the tickles. Max starts laughing uncontrollably and tries to push my hands away.

I stop for a bit, allowing him to breath, what? He's only five; I'm not going to stop him breathing. As he gains control of his laughing, I attack him with tickles again, causing him to twist and roll on the bed, I stop again for a bit. This continues for another 5 to 10 minutes, until we hear a knock at the door. I stop and head down the ladder as Max tries to once again gain control of his breath.

I open the door to a 20 something year old man. "Hello, I'm Dave, I'm going to take you to get your stuff from your home," He says, with an Irish accent, I like Irish accents, they're cool. I nod and help Max down from the bed; he was just lying there, giggling every now and then. Once I have him down, we go out the door behind Dave, He has a cool name, well, I think so at least.

He has the same name as the guy in Alvin and the Chipmunks, who wouldn't love that name now. We go down the stairs and say bye to Anna, "I want them back by 12 Dave, no later," she says in a stern voice as we leave through the front door. "Don't worry, Anna, I'll be back soon," He replies in a carefree voice. Did he not find Anna's voice intimidating? I did, if she said that to me, I would have been back in 10 minutes.

It was only 10 o'clock, so we had two hours to get home, grab our stuff and come back, easy. We get into a grey land rover, Dave in the front and Max and I in the back seat. He starts the engine as we put on our seatbelts. "It'll take about 15 to 20 minutes to get there, alright?" He asks, not sounding worried at all from Anna's warning.

What the crab apple? Hey, don't question me; I'm only 10 and a half. So you know, crab apple means, **C**ustard **R**hubarb **A**pple **P**ie, yeah, I made that up myself, I'm that awesome and intelligent. We drive off with Max playing with some toy car he must have found in his room, great; Max was a thief in training.


	4. Chapter 3

Retrieval

We pull up out the front of our 2 story home and get out of the car. Unfortunately for us, there's child-lock on the cars doors, we have to wait for Dave to open the doors for us, great, just great. He opens the door and acts all gentleman and chauffer-ish. It really can annoy you, especially when you're not used to it.

I get out and decide to play along and act all ladies-like, the complete opposite of me. "Well thank you, kind sir," I retaliate, he just laughs. I smile, not knowing what else to do. He closes the door after me and says, "Let your brother out, before he starts throwing a temper tantrum." Great, what happened to the gentleman, huh?" I, once again, retaliate. He just laughs and shakes his head again as he walks towards the front door. I open Max's door and let him out. He climbs out and jumps on to the ground, still holding the toy.

"Come on max, let's get our stuff, I want to try to get all the photo albums as well," I tell him, half talking to myself. He runs to the front door where Dave is holding a key, "The police gave me a copy of the key and said that I had to give it to you two, seeming as it was your parents, and it's yours for the time being. Well, not exactly yours but you have access to it. So just grab the essentials, and you need your own towel and bedspread as well." He walked in the front door and let us in, giving me the key in the process.

I walk in remembering all the times I walked in this door, ok, well, not ALL the times, but most. I feel the tears coming but I know I have to stay strong for Max, it's important that he doesn't start crying as well. Last time he started crying, he didn't stop for almost 2 hours, literally. I head to my room, dropping Max off in his on the way and look at my room. I can't believe I will probably never sleep in this room again.

I grab one of the bags Dave gave me and start packing some clothes. I grab some shirts, pants, short, hoodies and pyjamas, plus some… let's call them undergarments. I pack it all and look at my dresses. I have 3 dresses in total; I'm not much of a girlie girl. There is one good one which I always used to wear out, one summer dress which I usually wore to the beach or the pool and my school dress. I grab the good one and the summer dress and pack them into my bag.

I grab my Nikes (They're from China), my canvas shoes, flats, runners and sandals. I also grab my bathers, just in case. I grab some other essentials, charger, money, watch, a couple of books and my teddies. That's right people, I have teddies, but you've got to admit, they are extremely awesome. I pack them all in the bags and leave the room, closing the door behind me. I never had any pictures or posters in my room, I just didn't know what to put there.

On my way to the linen cupboard to grab some towels and bed sheets, I pass by Sam's room. I stop at the door and look in; I can see her room the way she left it. The bed messy, clothes away neatly and her sketch pads all over the place. She was an amazing drawer, I mean it. I pick up one of the books and flick through it. She has pictures of all kinds of things flowers, animals, people and rooms. I stop on one picture though; it's one of our families, one of all of us.

It's an amazing picture, the detail, the shadows are even present, it looks judging by the shadow, to be either early sunrise, or late sunset, next to a beach. We are all standing together looking forwards standing in front of the wall, all of us in a row except for Max who is standing at the front. I love the picture; I wonder how many more she has drawn. I grab all of her sketch books and put them in a carry bag, making sure they are all safe and not going to get damaged. I walk over to the walls and look at the pictures.

I take the pictures down and put them also in the bag, along with some other things to remember her by; her favourite book, favourite pencils, her teddies, little things like that. I leave her room and close the door behind me feeling somewhat better than before, at least now I have something to remember her by. I walk to the linen cupboard and grab some stuff before walking back to Max's room.

He's on the floor playing with some of his toys. I grab a heap of clothes for him and fill the rest of the bag with his favourite toys. He doesn't protest, he just continues to play with his toy train. Well, then again, who doesn't like trains? They are friggen awesome. I grab his hand and pull him out after me. I go to the family room and open the small cupboard. In there I find our photo albums and other things like certificates and awards. I pack them all into a bag and head to the formal lounge room.

In there I open the glass cupboard to our trophies. There aren't many, but there is still some. Sam has a bunch of art awards, we both have a few medals from awards from being top of the class at school and I have a few music ones. I have been doing music since I was 6, when I started to play the piano. Since then, I have started to learn the guitar and have entered a few competitions in which I won the trophies and medals.

I never want to give it up, no matter what. I pack all the medals and trophies carefully into my bag, making sure that they won't break whilst in there. I turn around to see my precious guitar and keyboard; I put the guitar in its case and pack up the rest of the stuff. "Are you almost done?" calls the now familiar Irish voice of Dave. "Yeah, can you please help me a little in here? I need your help carrying something," I call back, hoping he'll let me take my much loved instruments. "Yeah, hang on, Wait, you want to bring those?" He questions as he enters the room seeing my packed up instruments.

"Please? They mean so much to me, I can't live without my precious instruments," I plead using the puppy dog eyes. "Alright, I'll take the keyboard to the car now, you take the guitar and we'll come back to get the rest of the stuff later," he decided as he tried to find the most comfortable way to hold the keyboard. I don't think he noticed the handles on the side of the keyboard though. I laugh slightly at his attempts to hold it. "What? It's not as easy as I thought it would be," He says giving me a death glare. This just makes me burst out laughing at how stupid he is.

I point to the handle on the side. When Dave realises this, he looks amused almost, "So that's how you hold it," He says, I burst out laughing even more, even Dave chuckles slightly as he heads out the door, finally holding the handle. I pull the guitar onto my back and pick up the bag containing awards, certificates, photos and trophies and carry them out to the car. I place them in the boot then go back and grab the rest of my music stuff.

I come out to find Dave at the car, looking confused at something. "How does this thing work? I pressed a couple of keys and it didn't make a sound," He asks, I laugh again, and he really had no knowledge of music whatsoever. When I finally calm down, I reply, "You have to switch it on air brain, that's why it doesn't work, it doesn't have keys like a grand piano or whatever does, and that's one of the differences between the two. Looks like now you actually know something about music." He looks at me like I'm mad, "I know a lot about music, thank you very much, just not keyboard or piano or whatever you call it."

I shake my head as I laugh lightly, I'm not usually this confident in front of people, but who cares, I'm enjoying myself. We go back inside and get the rest of the bags, there aren't that many, and I grab the chords and accessories for my keyboard and guitar along with my sheet music. I'm going to be taking up a lot of my room with some of this stuff. We all get back into the land rover with Max now playing with a Hulk action figure, this guy has unlimited amounts of toys, seriously, he never gets bored.

We drive for about 15 minutes with Dave trying to make us laugh. Max is basically red from lack of air, and I'm almost purple. At least I think I might be I have been non-stop laughing since we got in the car. We open the front door and start to bring some stuff upstairs. I put all my stuff in my room, including our family valuable, even though they are only valuable to us, and Sam's books. I give Max his stuff and help him start to unpack his things.

I put the sheets on the bed, the clothes in the drawers and I put all of his toys away in drawers, the cupboard and on some shelfs they have on the wall. When we're finished I leave Max in his room whilst I go back to my room to unpack my stuff and decorate my room. I put my clothes in the cupboard and drawer, my books on one of the shelfs, my sheets on the bed and my music stuff set up out of the way in the corner.

The last two bags are the hardest for me to put away. I put the trophies on one of the shelfs, both Sam's and mine, the posters from Sam's room on my wall and then I take out the photo albums. I open it up and slowly look through it; there are pictures from all sorts of times. There are our births, birthdays, special occasions, and from holidays. The last two pictures make me the saddest; the first has all of us smiling at the camera, whilst the one beside it has all of us at the same place pulling a funny face.

I always loved these pictures, they were from only a few months ago and I remember the day perfectly. I put the Albums on the shelf beside my books and put Sam's books beside them along with our books with our certificates and all. I'm happy with my new room, at least now I can live with it.


	5. Chapter 4

Roommate

I woke up to the sound of the door opening, I open my eyes in alert, knowing that if it was Max then he would jump straight on me with no hesitation. I look at the door to see a girl about my age, most likely older, staring down at me. I must have dosed off after unpacking my stuff because I was lying on my bed. The girl had long ginger hair and gorgeous blue eyes with lots of freckles. She was really pretty with no make-up on. Thank god, if I had to share a room with an extreme girly girl I would die before the weekend, and it's already Wednesday.

"Hey, I'm Ann, but everyone calls me Annie, you must be Charlie, I'm your roommate. Just ignore my mess; I'm really not one to be cleaning my room." She's honest, that's good, but then again, her room is nothing compared to my old room. "Hey, I'm Charlie, like you said, and don't worry, this is nothing compared to my old room, I had things everywhere, seriously," I reply, firstly telling the truth and secondly trying to make her happy or something, I'm not very good with this.

She smiles and walks over to the desk, "You just came today right? Dave told me, he does the school runs as well. Oh, that's a nice picture," she says motioning towards the posters I stuck on my wall. I smile, "Yeah, it's my sisters, I always liked that one two, I need to finish decorating my walls," I say out loud, thinking to myself. "Oh, Gemma has a message for you, you have a councillor meeting tonight, 7:00PM, if you don't go, there will seriously be hell to pay, and I will get you your school uniform and books from downstairs while you're at your meeting. Dinner is usually at 6:00 so we have an hour,"

She says as she looks at the alarm clock I brought from home and set up on my bedside table. It was already five o'clock, crab apples; I really need to finish decorating my room. Wait, I thought the ladies name was Anna? "Hey, isn't the lady's naming Anna? That's what she told Max and me earlier," I ask. "Oh, Anna had todays morning shift, Gemma has the night shift. Go say hi to her and introduce yourself and your brother," She tells me.

I get up and find my way to my brother's room. I slowly knock on the door and open it. "Charlie!" I hear as soon as I can see properly inside. Max approaches, flying towards the door, swinging it open and jumping on me. I hug him back and put him back down. He was really heavy for a ten year old to carry. I rub his hair and he ducks out of the way, a small pout on his face. He looked so adorable when he was angry.

"Come on, we're going to meet Gemma, let's go," I tell him putting my hand on his back to lead him out of the room. He jumps up and down in excitement. We race down the stairs, me beating Max; by a lot might I add. We reach the bottom of the stairs and start to explore the house. I find the kitchen and see a couple of teenagers in there, drinking something and talking about stuff. We walk past the door and find a living room; I walk in and see a bunch of little kids there watching some little kid show.

Apparently it's good because Max runs over and joins them and he is really picky with what he watches. I see a 30 something old sitting amongst them with a slightly bored expression on her face. "Umm, excuse me," I say, getting her attention as she turns around, "I'm Charlie, Annie, my roommate, told me to come introduce myself." I explain, trying so hard, yet failing, to not sound awkward.

She smiles at me, "He, I'm Gemma, nice to meet you. I hope Annie told you about your appointment with the councillor?" She asks me, expectancy on her face. I nod and smile, letting her know she has. "Ok then, well, I'll see you at 6:00 for dinner unless you feel like watching postman Pat with these guys," She says motioning towards the kids in front of her. I shake my head laughing slightly and start heading back up the stair.

I reach my room and flop back on my bed. "Really, you just woke up and you're already exhausted again?" She says laughing at me. "Hey it's not my fault I'm tired, I've had a big day." I reason out, she laughs a little more than continues with her homework. I check the time, 5:45, great only 15 minutes until I get food, finally. "Only 15 minutes to go," I say out loud to Annie, she looks at the clock and shouts, "Finally", whilst packing up her books.

I get up and look around the room at the posters. Some were for movies, some were of supposedly 'hot' looking guys and the rest were paintings and drawings by famous artists. Sam was into that kind of stuff, and I had to admit, the pictures looked amazing. After about 10 minutes of chatting about random stuff, like what colours we liked and what music we liked, we headed downstairs. Most the kids must be down already because there are a heap of kids. There were about 3 house parents in the kitchen getting everything ready. "Hey Annie, how was school?" asked some girl who looked to be a little older than us, maybe about 14 or something. "Not bad, boring as usual, but what do you expect? Anyway, this is Charlie, she's my new roommate."

She introduced me. "Hey, I'm Marian, nice to meet you," she says kindly. She has long black hair with white looking skin plus beautiful green eyes, she was really pretty. "Alright everyone, dinner is ready," Shouted one on the house parents as kids piled forward, wanting to get there food. I hung back, waiting for the crowds to clear up, when Annie grabs my hand and pulls me forward. "You'll never get food hanging back like that," she explains as we find ourselves at the front of the line, thank God that's over, I am really claustrophobic sometimes and I don't want to faint on my first day.

I look at the food and decide on mac and cheese seeming as we hardly ever have that at home. Everything was in little metal packages that you get at the school canteen. I grab a fork and drink of water before heading over to one of the tables. I see Max looking completely lost holding a tray with some random stuff on it like carrots and salad with chips that you find in the frozen section at the supermarket.

I call him over and he comes and sits in the chair beside me as Marian and Annie join me. As we eat we talk about random stuff and try to entertain Max, I think we laughed more than Max, but he giggled every now and then, mainly at Annie's laugh though I think, it sounded really weird. After about 45 minutes of this I check the time, shoot, it's already 6:45; I have 15 minutes to be in the councillor's office. Great, why exactly did I have to do this? I head over and put my stuff in the bin and dishwasher before heading upstairs.

It's only when I go to close the door when I realise Max has followed me, I let him into my room and he runs to jump on my bed, only to realise I have a bunk now. I chuckle at this and head to the cupboard, I don't think going there in a pair of track pants and old top would look very good, so what, I was unpacking and decided to wear something more comfortable. I changed into a pair of jeans and long-sleeve tee with a hoodie, adding my flats on afterwards and head back downstairs. I pass down the hall way and into the kitchen to see most kids still sitting there talking about random stuff.

Max had once again followed me and ran towards this other kid who was playing with a bunch of toy cars and started to play with him. Seriously, where do little kids get this kind of courage? I laugh lightly and head over to see Marian and Annie still packing their stuff in the dishwasher. "Hey, umm, where's the councillor's office?" I ask, completely clueless as to where it is. Annie points at a door about 10 meters away, "right there." Okay, that was kind of obvious, seeing as there is a massive sign on her door saying **_House Councillor, Jennifer Mitchum_** oh, I knew that. I looked below to see a schedule with different names on it for different times.

I looked down and saw all the names were ticked off except for mine and one more below me. I would hate to be in that persons spot, but then again, you can basically go for as long as you want. I looked at my watch, 6:55, should I go in now or wait? I decide to give it one or two more minutes, and then I would knock. I sit down on one of the chairs beside it and hope it's not saved for anyone. I waited for what felt like hours, but was only 2 and a half minutes and decided to knock, yay, I get a councillor, note the sarcasm.


	6. Chapter 5

Councillor

I knock on the door and wait about 10 seconds before I hear a British voice, "Come in," She calls, at least I'm pretty sure it's a she, if it was a guy it would be seriously creepy. I open the door to find a pretty looking lady with blonde hair sitting on the couch with a cup in her hand. "Oh, hello, you must be Charlie, I'm Jennifer Mitchum, but just call me Jen, I'm the house councillor." She says introducing herself. I just nod, lame, I know, but what do you expect me to do.

"Sit down," she says and points at the seat next to her. The seat looks very inviting, it looks very comfortable. I sit down and look around the room. There's a desk stacked with paper work and a few file cabinets looking like they'll explode if you put anything else in them. Scratch that, they look like they're going to explode any minute now. I put my hands in my lap and wait for Jen to start.

When she doesn't, I look up at her. She smiles back at me, "is there anything you want to talk about? It can be about anything, that's exactly what these lessons are for. So you know, I won't tell anyone anything you mention in this conversation, even if you tell me you murdered someone. It's all confidential. I smile back at her; this is exactly what I need. I have been trying to act so brave in front of everyone, especially Max, that I need someone too.

I take a deep breath, how am I supposed to start this? Before I begin, I start crying my eyes out, I don't know why, I just do. After about 5 , or ten I'm not quite sure, minutes of me crying and Jen holding me, telling me it's alright to cry and stuff, I look up at her. "You can't tell anyone what I say in here right?" I ask, still not completely sure or certain, what if someone tortured her for information, not like something like that would happen, but still? She nods, looking down at me, she's tall, just saying.

I smile, I haven't been this happy for ages, I always wanted someone who I could talk to who I know won't tell anyone else, my friend from school, Sarah, wouldn't be able to keep it secret for 1 day, let alone the rest of her life, she would tell someone. She did that to one of our other friends, well, only mine now, Ellie. She told us who she had a crush on and that we can't tell anyone else, but, of course, Sarah told someone, who told someone else and pretty soon the whole school knew.

Ellie seriously nearly killed Sarah, Ellie ended up moving to another school because everyone was teasing her, Sarah felt really bad but never changed her ways, and she can't keep a secret if it would save her life. I decide to begin with asking simple questions about this place, yeah, I know not the type of thing you would think but hey, she can't tell anyone. "Where will I be going to school?" "Well, everyone who lives here goes to a primary school about 10 minutes' drive from here."

"Except for one boy who goes to a boarding school in England, but he only ever comes her during break so, basically everyone goes to the same place, unless you get a scholarship, then you go to whatever school gave you that scholarship. You will be going to the school nearby and I believe you will be starting tomorrow," she states in reply, wow, that was a lot of information for one question.

"Okay, how far away will Max be, will he still be nearby?" I was worried about Max, what if something happened to him? "Don't worry, he'll be at the same primary school as you, he will be starting pre-primary, right?"

_(A/N: So you know, as this is currently set in Australia, the school system has Kindy [basically pre-school] until year 6 at primary school and then year 7 until year 12 at high school, You usually start Kindy at the age of 4, sorry if it's confusing.)_

I nod in answer to her question. I think for a bit, what else could I ask her? "What will happen to us, are we going to stay here for the rest of our lives, until we turn 18 or whatever?" "Most likely, you will live with a foster family or there is a slight chance you will be adopted, but you most likely won't stay here forever." Okay, that's kind of reassuring, but who would want us? We're two kids who have a damaged childhood, nothing special here.

"What kind of subjects will I be doing at school?" At my old school I had a few classes like Music and art and then there were some classes that this place might not have, or classes they have that we didn't. "You will get an envelope tomorrow when you get to school, it'll contain information about stuff at the school, and I don't want you to worry about that, okay?" alright, so I'll find out tomorrow, that's good, I think.

"I just hope I don't stuff it up like everything else I stuff up," I say. Poop, I said that out loud, no, I shouldn't of done that, why does this always happen to me? "I'm sure that's not true, you don't stuff everything up," she reassured me. "No, it's my fault they were killed, it was my idea to go to the mall, I brought them to their death," I say, tears forming in my eyes. No, I had to be strong, I can't cry now, I just can't, if people find out about this everything will go horrible, but this is supposed to be confidential right?

But what if someone is listening right outside the door? What if they heard everything I've said? What if they agree it was my entire fault? No, now I'm just being paranoid. "It wasn't your fault, if anyone it was the man who did it, he has been punished and he will have a court date soon, you're expected to be there to give evidence alright? It'll be okay, you will be under protection, he won't hurt you anymore," this reassured me slightly, at least he can't hurt Max.

I head a soft knock on the door, "Oh, that should be Scott, he's next. Well, I'll see you soon, have a good night. I left the office after saying goodbye to Jen; she was nice, really nice. I headed upstairs to my room, saying hi to Marion as I passed her going up the stairs. When I reached my room I knocked on the door. "Hello?" called the familiar British voice from inside.

I opened the door slightly, when she saw me she laughed a little, "You know you don't have to knock, it's you room as well," she told me from her bed in which she was laying on reading .I smiled slightly, I guess it was just habit for me to do that. I walked in and looked on my bed to see an old looking uniform and a small pile of books on my bed.

"It's your uniform and books, you can bring one of your own bags and there's a small pencil case right there," Annie explained whilst pointing my stuff out. I look at the uniform, it wasn't that bad, a black, knee length skirt with a white blouse, and a black tie, great, and I get a boring uniform. I also saw some tights and socks next to it; it was your average primary school uniform. "Thanks," I muttered to Annie as I moved them all into my set of draws and hung up the blouse.

I set the tie on one of the posts of my bunk and leave all the books and stuff in my bag underneath my desk under my bed. I look at the time, only 8:15, great, what I am supposed to do for another hour or two before I finally manage to fall asleep was a complete mystery. I look up to see Annie looking at me, "What?" I ask, thinking I must have something on my face or clothes. She looks up as if she has just snapped out of a trance. "Huh? Oh, sorry I didn't realise I was staring, I was just kind of thinking about stuff," She mumbled.

She went back to reading her book, which I found out to be some book called Witch and Wizard by James Patterson. She saw me looking at the book almost enviously and said, "You know, if you want to read one of my books, I have heaps on the shelf over there," she motioned towards her shelf. I smiled at her, perfect; I really need a good book. I looked at the books and one in particular caught my eye, _The Magic Faraway Tree _by Enid Blyton. I walked over and took it off the shelf; I had always loved this book, always. I climbed onto my bed and began reading.


	7. Chapter 6

School

I was awoken by Annie as she tried to shake me awake from on the ground. I slowly opened my eyes, "Huh? What are you doing?" I asked letting her know I was awake and that she didn't need to try to wake me anymore, which I think she was relieved about. "Come on, we have school, you need to get up and get ready and come down stairs for breakfast," she said, pulling the blanket off of me in the process.

I'm extremely lucky that I'm wearing my pyjamas, or that would have been just pure awkward, and disgusting. I climbed down from my bed and looked loathingly at the uniform hanging in my cupboard and in my drawers. I pulled it out and quickly got changed in whilst Annie headed downstairs as she got changed before waking me up. I slipped on the uniform and headed downstairs to the kitchen/dining room.

Set up along the kitchen counter where all sorts of foods. There were all kinds of cereal, toast and bread. There were also toppings for the toast and bread like butter, jam, Nutella, egg, beans and also a bunch of fruit, most of which look like they are tinned. I grab a piece of toast and some Nutella and sat down at the same table as Annie. As we ate, we talked about different things, like what sort of people are at school, and what the classes and teachers are like. After about ten or fifteen minutes, Annie and I head back upstairs to finish getting ready.

I brush my hair and gather my school things. Apparently we have to leave at about 8:00 so we will get to the bus stop by 8:15, so the bus can take us to school. If we are running late, we have to run, there's no easy alternative. You only ever get a lift if you're hurt, have something big or heavy to take home that can't fit in your bag or if you have afterschool curriculum things that you need to stay back for.

We head back down stairs and I see Max playing with another Child downstairs. As he was in pre-primary and it was still only the start of the year, he only had half days which started at lunchtime. I ran over to him, gave him a hug goodbye and kissed him on the forehead, something our mother used to always do. I smiled at him as he playfully rubbed the spot trying to get rid of whatever 'cooties' I gave him. **(A/N that or girl germs, not sure what they use nowadays.) **

I walked out the front door with Annie, we were leaving earlier than others as I was new and needed to learn the way to the bus stop, seeming as I might have to find my own way from time to time and I couldn't rely completely on Annie. We reached the bus stop within 10 minutes and sat on the bench. Apparently whenever the bus was late, you would be waiting 5 or 10 minutes, so it was best of you get here first so you had a seat.

She also warned me that from time to time, some guy named Samuel would come and if you didn't give him a seat, you would be asking for a death-wish. What a pleasant way to start the day. After about 5 or so minutes of Annie and me chatting, more and more people began to turn up. All the orphanage kids and a few others who lived nearby got on the bus here, as it was closest to most. Suddenly, a shadow stood over Annie and I, I could see the fear in her eyes, as she continued to look down. "My friends and I want to sit down, so move your ass," said an intimidation voice in a threatening manner.

I looked at Annie, there was pure anger in her eyes, it looked as if she could kill this guy in a second, I decided to test that theory, which I had to admit, was a stupid idea. I looked up at him and looked right in his eyes, "No, we were here first so go sit on the floor or something if you want to sit down." Okay, big, BIG mistake, if looks could kill, well, I should start handing out invitations for my funeral. "What did you just say?" He said, steam almost coming out of his ears and nose, ha-ha, that would be funny to see… back on topic, his face began turning red with anger.

"You heard me, look a nice spot of grass right there," I retorted, I really did have a death wish didn't I? I had a really bad habit of doing this, I even had a scar to prove it, and I may or may not have done this to one of the most short-tempered people at my old school… Meh, I had Karate and Rom Tai Kwon Do classes, I would last.

In fact, the short-tempered girl came off way worse than me, she had a couple of bruises after that, it took about two people to pull me off her, I was so mad, but she hit me first… it think. He reached down, to pick me up and throw me at the floor, well, ok I did hit the other girl first, but she was about the punch me.

I threw a punch at his arm, causing him to retreat back a couple of steps. He would have killed me if it wasn't for the bus that turned around the corner. It stopped outside our stop and everyone got on. Before I left, Anna, the house parent from yesterday, gave me a smart rider. It's like this card that you use on Trans Perth, the common bus name that does routes all day, and you scan it, ours is a student one so it means it only costs 50c instead of 80c.

I sat down next to Annie in one of the seats, the bus was almost full now and we headed off to school. The whole drive I sat silently in my seat, staring out the window.

As we arrived, I got off the bus, rescanning my smart rider to let them know I have finished my travel and followed Annie to the front office. I purposely avoided Samuel, not wanting to get into a fight before I even started at the new school. I walked through the door and followed Annie to the desk. "Mrs Welkin's, this is Charlie Veil, the new student," Annie introduced me. "Well, hello Charlie, I believe you will be in class 5F, Annie is in the year above you but I'm sure she won't mind taking you to your class.

Your teachers name is Mr Fields, I'm sure you'll have a great day, he'll be waiting for you in his class I believe," Mrs… Welkins, I think, explained as she handed me a piece of paper with my class, year, name, all that kind of stuff. I took the paper and followed Annie out back to the large basketball courts that were outside. She led me to a 2 storey building and started heading up the stairs with me close behind. There weren't many classes upstairs, there were about 4 or something, but they all seemed very spacious.

We entered one of the rooms with a poster on the door saying, '5F, and welcome'. Annie knocked on the door and waited for the door to be opened by a youngish sort of teacher, maybe in his late twenties. "Hello Annie, you must be Charlie, I'm Mr Fields, welcome to our school, come in," He introduced, standing aside so we could enter the classroom.

It was extremely spacious; it had about 8 desks for four people all spaced out through the classroom, except for a large area in the middle where I assume we sit down at. There was a bookshelf in the corner with many different sorts of books and the walls were covered in work done by other students. I like this classroom, it was nice and bright, not boring and didn't make me feel like sleeping.

He went over to his desk and started packing some things away, "Annie, thank you very much for bringing Charlie, but I believe the bell will be going in a minute and you need to get to your class, perhaps you can come and find Charlie again at recess." Annie had explained the whole system here to me last night. The day started at 8:30 when the bell rang and you lined up outside of class until the teacher let you into class, you then stayed in class until 10:30 when you would have recess, break one, morning tea, whatever you call it.

That would then end at 10:50, when we would go back to class. We would then stay there until 12:30 when we would have lunch, then go back in at 1:00, staying until 3:10. All in all, it was pretty simple to understand. I put my bag where he told me too and put my books in my designated tray, it had my name on it. I was looking around the class when a sudden noise made me jump. I think it was supposed to be the school bell because Mr Fields stood up and started heading towards the door.

"Well come on, you get to meet the class," Mr Fields said in a, well, too, umm, excited? Yeah, I'll go with excited, in a too excited voice than what a school teacher should sound. We excited the door, me making sure I closed my tray properly. I followed him out the door and downstairs, on the way he pointed out the bathroom and library, also where some of the other classes are like Italian and music rooms.

We walked to the basketball courts where everyone was lined up and I followed him to a line of people who all looked about my age. Mr Fields introduced me and took the class upstairs to the classroom. A girl with long blonde hair and green eyes walks past me, "Hi, my name is Niamh (Irish way of spelling Neve), your Charlie right?" She asks, with a genuine and welcoming smile on her face.

I smile back at her, "Yeah, it's nice to meet you, I don't really know anyone, except for Annie, but she's in the year above or something." "Oh, her, she's strange, she only started here a month or so ago, apparently she was seeing the councillor or something a lot, I don't know, I don't live at the home, I live a couple of blocks away," she says, I don't think she realises what she said was a little mean but anyway, I'm sure she didn't mean it. We walked into class and she put her bag away and then sat down at one of the desks, completely surrounded by other girls who I assume are her friends. I hang back, too shy to walk up to them.

Niamh continues talking and laughing to her friends whilst I hang around on the outside. "Hey, Charlie right? I'm Josh, I only came here a month or so ago. I guess we can be new kids together hey," He says in a poor attempt to make me laugh. I nod and follow him to one of the desks that have 2 other people at it. "This is Allie and Jack, my friends, guys, this is Charlie, she's new," Josh introduces.

Allie is small, with short black hair and piercing blue eyes. Jack, however, has long, for a boy, blonde hair and light brown eyes. He's tall and looks like someone who would beat everyone at sport. He's not that bad looking either. "Hello, nice to meet you, I see you've already met Niamh," Jack says, obvious distaste in his voice when he mentions her name. "Yeah, I did," is all I say in reply, too shy to say much else. "Don't trust her; she's like the bully of the school, as long as they are younger than her.

She never says nor does anything to any of the year six's, watch out for her," Allie warns, I don't know why but she reminds me of a mouse… that's not normal is it? "Hum… okay, sure," I reply. Before any one can say anything else, Mr Fields walks to the front of the class and tells everyone to sit down so we can start the class. I sit down next to Josh and across from Allie; this is going to be an interesting day.


	8. Chapter 7

Afternoon

On the bus home, I finally see Annie again, for some reason I couldn't see her during lunch or recess. "Hey, so how was your first day?" Annie asks as I take my seat beside her. "Not bad, met some people did some stuff, same as my last school," I reply, being careful not to mention anything about Niamh. Apparently Annie is the only year six who has ever been bullied by her, kind of sad don't you think.

"Did you meet Niamh?" she suddenly asks after a minute of two of silence. "Umm… yeah, I did," How was I supposed to answer that? I didn't want to say she's nice or anything or even alright after what I heard she did to Annie, but I didn't want to say anything bad. "Who else did you have the pleasure of meeting?" She continues. "Hum… there was Jack, Josh, Allie and Noah," I say. Noahs like the annoying boy of the year that all the other boys copy.

Every year at every school has one of these, they are so annoying. Before we know it, we're at the bus stop and already on our way home. "Well at least you met some decent people today, stay away from Niamh, seriously," Annie warns, she's like the fifth person today. "Yeah I know, I've already been told ten times to stay away from her," okay, so I exaggerated a bit, but I was frustrated from the amount of people saying that! We walk in silent for a bit longer, Annie showing me the way and me desperately trying to remember the way.

When we finally reached home, we walked up to our rooms and she took out her books. I copied her, not knowing what else to do, it was my first day and I already had homework, I had to finish a maths page. I was fine with it though, I loved maths. I took out the sheet and got to work only to notice Annie staring at me. Looking up, I said, "What is it?" She snaps out of a trance and looks me in the eye, a shade of pink making its way to her cheeks, "Sorry, I was just thinking, I tend to do that sometimes." "What, think?" I ask, completely confused as to what she just said. She laughed lightly, "No, silly, stare off into space," She explains, all traces of embarrassment leaving her face.

So that's what she meant… I went back to my work and in about 15 minutes I had completed the sheet and was packing up my stuff. Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Annie called, still focused on her book; I think it was debating, not quite sure. I looked at the door and saw Max's head poking through the door, tears down his face. "Oh Max, what's wrong?" I ask as he runs over and jumps on me, hugging me around the neck, the way he used to hug mum when he was upset.

I hug him back and we sit there like that for a minute or so. He lifts his head up and starts talking about some boy taking his little train toy he had from home. That was his last present from Sam, how dare he take it? I lift Max up and carry him out the door, "Who took it Max?" I ask and he points at this 14 or something year old boy. I put Max down and walk towards him. "Hey, you, did you take my brothers toy?" I ask, somehow becoming confident. He turns around from this other guy, who was laughing, and looks me in the eye.

"Yeah, and?" he says, a large smirk right across his face, how I would love to slap it off his face. "Give it back," I say, taking a step towards him. He smirks, "ha, you actually believe I will, listen, kid, I am older, stronger and just pure smarter than you, you will not boss me around," He states taking menacing steps towards me. Oh poop... "Look, that toy means a lot to Max, please just give it back," I beg, I don't want him to destroy it. He throws it to the floor and laughs as Max runs to get it. I turn and walk away; not wanting to be near him, he was danger and I know it, staying with him would be like playing with dynamite.

I head upstairs to find Annie on my piano, playing a really sweet song, I have never heard of it before. "Hey," I say quietly, her head snapping up and eyes widening as she realises I saw her. "Oh… Um… sorry, I'll leave it alone now…" she says, stuttering in embarrassment. I laugh, "It's alright, that was a really nice song, what's it called?" "It's Fur Elise, didn't you know that?" I thought that song was familiar… "Cool, can you teach me some time? I've always wanted to know how to play that; I just couldn't ever remember what it's called."

I ask, she nods her head eagerly, "Sure, but I've got to finish this homework first, I just haven't played it for a while. Do you want to go out for a walk to the deli? I kind of feel like some chocolate or something?" she suddenly asks. "Yeah, sure, no one can turn down the aspect of maybe having chocolate, it's too good to resist," I say, a bit dramatically making her laugh. We grab our stuff and head out the door, down the stairs to find Gemma and tell us we were going out.

She nodded her head, "Be careful, I don't want to have any trouble alright?" She called, eyes on all the little kids as they played, Max was in the group, "I'll be back soon Max, have fun," I called once again as we headed out the front door. Annie and I walked down the driveway and onto the footpath by the road. There was still light outside seeming as it was still in the afternoon, almost 5 o'clock. We walked in silence, me looking at Annie every now and then for directions.

We started talking a bit after that, but only about random stuff, nothing of any important meaning, well, that's what I thought. She asked me if I did any martial arts, I had. I had done Rom Taekwondo and Karate, I was a red belt in both but I hadn't been doing it for a couple of months because I was too busy with music and school. We finally made it to the deli and I walked in. I was small with most of the necessities for living like milk and bread on one side and then lollies and drinks on another.

I walked around and found out I had only $5.00 with me, so I decided on a drink, packet of chips and chocolate. The drink was $1.40, the chocolate $1.30 and the chips were $1.20. I only had $1.10 left so I bought three of those fizzers which they sold for 30c each and I had 20c left.

I walked out the door to find Annie there on her phone; she had only brought $3.00 so all she got was a chocolate and a drink, she kept her change and left it in her pocket. When she saw me, she had a worried look on her face, but she quickly covered it up. "Done? Cool, let's go," She said in a rush, what was up with her? We started walking when suddenly; I felt a large hand cover my mouth. I tried to scream but no sound came out, well, it was muffled at least.

I tried wriggling free but I heard a deep laugh come from behind me, "don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, just relax," as he said that I felt a needle sink into my arm and the man's grip on me weaken. I used this to my advantage and slipped from his grasp, spinning around and launching a massive round the house kick, looks like the years of martial arts has finally paid off. I started to sprint away when I realised Annie wasn't there.

I looked around and saw another man holding her limp form looking at me with shock in his eyes. I wanted to help her, but then I saw a knife. Oh no, I sprinted off before he could threaten me, hopefully he wouldn't hurt Annie, hopefully. I started running when suddenly I felt tired, I could feel my arms and legs going limp and my vision becoming darker. What was happening to me? Poop, I forgot about the sharp pain. They must have injected me with a sedative, great, just great.

I tried running again but all that happened was I had fallen down and collapsed onto the cold hard concrete. I tried to get back up but I couldn't, what was going to happen to me? I felt my vision getting blurry and I heard faint footsteps making their way towards me. I felt myself being pulled from the ground as my vision was almost black now.

I couldn't get out of his grasp as I heard a car door open as I was carefully places inside and I heard my seatbelt being done up, What sort of criminal does the person he kidnaps seatbelt? I tried to stay awake, but the last thing I heard was, "She'll be a good one," before I fell into a dreamless sleep.


	9. Chapter 8

Awake

I woke in a comfortable bed with my head pounding, I wanted to get up but every time I tried I felt like my head was going to explode. Where was I? I opened my eyes to find I was in a large room with a double bed. I think it was a double bed… at least it wasn't single and it wasn't a bunk like my bed at the home. There was a large TV on the wall and a door off to the side which is most likely a bathroom.

Was I at a hotel or something? At the end of the bed was a set of clothes. There was an orange shit, black combat trousers, black boots and some underwear. That's when I realised I was naked. What the hell? What happened whilst I was asleep? I slowly got up holding my head and made my way to the clothes whilst keeping me covered with the blanket. I reached the clothes and put everything except for the shoes on before walking to the door on the side which I think leads to the bathroom.

Sure enough, as I opened it I saw a bathroom with white tiles on the floor and black tiles on the walls. It looked very modern as I walked to the sink to get a drink. I turned on the tap, cupped my hands as there weren't any glasses or bottles or cups and quickly gulped a couple of mouthfuls of water. Is it just me or water seems to taste ten times better when you're thirsty? I leave the bathroom and head towards the door. Slowly I creek it open to find the hallway outside empty.

Where was I? As I was walking a tall woman rushes past accidentally knocking into me, "Oh, sorry, can't talk to orange," she said, still in a rush. She hurries past and towards the door. That's it, I have to get out of here, and I'll just take the elevator to the bottom floor and find some way out. When I'm waiting for the lift, a guy comes out beside me. He has blonde hair, kind of long for a guy, but still short and he was wearing a grey shirt with some logo on it, it was a cherub, like those little mythological creatures on a globe firing an arrow.

I looked down to realise I had a similar logo on mine, what does it mean? He stands next to me silently looking straight ahead. Well, two can play at that game. I stare ahead at the door, sneaking a peek every now and then to see what he does. "Bloody elevator," I hear him mutter. I try to suppress the laugh but I can't suddenly I'm on the floor laughing, why does that always happen to me? The boy looks at me with a really confused expression on his face.

He only looked to be about 13, not much older than me. Once I finally managed to get over my laughs I stood up again. The elevator finally appeared, we both got in and he pressed the button for the bottom floor. I guess I'll just go there too. "Where am I?" I suddenly burst, poop, I must sound like an idiot. I hear him chuckle lightly beside me, "Can't talk to orange," What? How am I orange? That's when I remember I was wearing an orange shirt. Oh. "What if I changed my shirt?" I asked I really wanted to know where I was.

He laughed again, "Can't do that, and I can't talk to orange," He replied, great. We arrived on the bottom floor and the boy literally raced really quickly to the door. I stepped out and headed to the desk off to the side. The lady sitting there looked up at me and smiled, "Mrs Asker is waiting for you, just go through that door there," she explained, pointing to an office door. I walked towards it and knocked softly on the door. "Come in," Called a female voice from inside.

I entered the room; it was a nice looking office with shelves covering the walls. There was a large oak desk in the middle with a rather tired and stressed out lady sitting behind it. "Hello, I'm Zara Asker, the Chairwoman of this… facility. Have a seat, I'll tell you why you're here," she says with a kind look on her face. I sit down slowly and cautiously on one of the chairs on the closer side of the desk. I really like this office… why would I be here though? What use could I possibly be? I'm just a young girl, almost 11, and I am really freaked out.

She must have noticed as she started speaking, "Where do you think you are?" she asks, kindness clear in her voice. "Umm… I don't know, some sort of school or something? I saw a boy and he looked like he was only around 12… maybe some sort of mental institution? People kept saying can't talk to orange..." I wandered out loud. As soon as I realised what I had said, I quickly lifted my hands over my mouth.

Crab apple, did I really just say that? Zara, the lady at the desk, laughed lightly at my comment, as if she hears it all the time. Then again, if this is a mental institution, people must guess that… "Don't worry, it isn't a mental institution, or at least not one that you would expect," oh no, "we are a branch of British intelligence, we use physically and mentally gifted children to penetrate, gain evidence on, and help lock up criminals that threaten our world. We would like to offer you the chance to try our recruitment test, and possibly join our facility," she explained in what I have now realised to be a thick, British accent.

"Me work for the British intelligence? Why would you use children to work as, what, spies? And anyway, I'm in Australia, how can I work for the British?" I ask, completely shocked at what is happening. "Uh, well, you see, about that. Funny story actually, you're not really, in Australia, anymore. You were brought to Britain… for the time being…" she explained awkwardly, gee, this is going to be great! Note the sarcasm, again.

"WHAT!? What do you mean I'm in Britain, just yesterday I was with Annie, we went to the deli and… oh, you kidnapped me… but still, how am I in England?" I shout there is no way I am in England, what about Max? He would be missing me, I have to go find him, and I'm not joining anything without knowing he is safe as well. "oh, you weren't in Australia yesterday, that was four days ago, we used a really powerful drug, it took you out for longer and you were out for the count the whole way here," she said, rather calmly.

How the hell did they manage to fly me all the way to England, in four days? "Anyway," she says, "You are currently at an elite school used to educate and train kids to become spies. No, we do not try to harm anyone, and no, no one who has ever attended this place has gone on to become super villains or anything. Basically, we only choose kids who fit certain… criteria. They need to mentally and physically fit, so you need to be smart, both academically and streetwise.

They need to be able to handle themselves in sticky situations. They also need to be fit, can run far and fast, and can fight. Not only that, no parent would happily allow their children to come here, so everyone here is an orphan, both parents either dead or in prison." She explained while I sat there, mouth wide open still getting over the fact that I was in England. "Sweetie, I know you're not in Australia, but you'll still catch flies if you do that," Zara says, attempting to keep a straight face.

Key word there, attempting, she was still trying to contain her laughs as I quickly snapped my mouth shut and looked at the ground as I felt heat running to my cheeks. The lady was nice, she had a motherly air to her, I thought, I think I'm going to like her. Right at that moment a boy of about 10 ran into the room, as a girl who looked about 8 followed. The eight year old had a very angry look on her face, but when they saw me, they froze in their place and slowly started to take big, stealth-like steps back towards the door.

Zara was watching them with a stern look the whole time as they silently and quickly left the room and closed the door behind them; they were no longer angry at each other, but looked slightly scarred at Zara. As soon as they left, I noticed they both wore red shirts with a similar logo on the front to me. It was the cherub baby with the weird set-up. What the…? Zara started to chuckle at the closed doors, snapping me out of my thought. "Anyway, you must excuse my children, they still need to understand that they need to knock on my office door, they haven't actually done that yet, they do the same thing every time. Back to business, would you like to attempt our recruitment tests?" she asks.

I'm still standing there, trying to progress that somehow they managed to get me from Australia to England. Still. "I'm sorry, what?" I ask, once again snapping out of my trance. "Do you want to attempt our recruitment tests? If you pass you will be offered a place here where you will try to pass out training and become an official spy for the British intelligence." She explained in a bored tone as if she is saying this every other day.

I'm still uncertain though, what about Max? "Why use children?" Crab apple, (still remember what that is?) wrong question, I was supposed to ask about Max! "Well, in the words of our previous chairman, say a man went to the front door of an old ladies house in the middle of the night, and tells her he was in a car accident, she would call an ambulance or family member for him, but she wouldn't let him inside.

But, if a young child, say seven or eight walked up to an old lady's house, crying and saying his dad and himself were in a car accident and he thinks his dad's dead, the lady will immediately let him in. From this position, a man can jump out from behind a bush, take down the old lady and have free access to her house and belonging. Criminals have been using this procedure for years now, maybe even decades now, and we use it as well, you could say we 'turn the tables with it', that, is why we use children.

Don't worry though, we have a high protection level for them, but I must warn you, a few people have died during the existence of CHERUB, and we have had, many close calls." She warned. I thought about it for a while then slowly, I nodded my head. "Okay, I'll take the recruitment test."


	10. Chapter 9

Recruitment

We began at the dojo, a Japanese style building used for training in martial arts. I follow Zara through the sliding doors and we entered a room with a group of about fifth teen or so kids ranging from about seven to ten sparring against each other. Some of the kids were so good they could probably beat me, and I was a red belt in Rom Taekwondo and karate. We went through the next door as I continued to watch the little kids until Zara closed the doors behind us.

I looked around the room and saw a mat on the floor which would mark the area we would be given to fight. I looked at everyone in the room; there was Zara, myself and the boy I saw earlier in the elevator, but now, instead of wearing his grey shirt he wore a white jacket type thing and pants worn whilst training in martial arts. Around his waist I could see a black belt, but he only had one mark, meaning he was still in his first stage of black belt.

I sighed; this made it all a little bit easier for me. He was sitting on a bench off to the side, daydreaming into a dark abyss of… nowhere? He was literally starring at an empty wall; I don't think he knows we came in… Suddenly, he jumped up, scaring the living daylights out of everyone, including himself. Once again, for the second time so far today, I burst out laughing in front of this random guy making myself look like an idiot, if I pass these tests, I'm going to be in for one hell of a life.

Until I'm eighteen, then we wouldn't really be classified at kids, or seventeen, not quite sure. He stood and walked to the edge of the mat, nodding his head in greeting. I nod my head slightly in return to his gesture and Zara stands between us. "Charlie, this is Zach, Zach, this is Charlie. The first test, sparring, I have been told you have some experience with sparring, so this is all out. You can submit a round by calling out those words, and you can call quits at any point in the fight. Five rounds, after those five, the person who has submitted to most loses, when you call quits, that's it, we stop and move on to the next test, got it?" Zara explained briefly before handing us mouthguards, not waiting for us to answer.

I slipped mine in and made sure it was placed correctly, I then stepped onto my side of the mat and got into a fighting position. Zach mirrored my movements and before I had a chance to figure out a strategy, Zara yelled out "Start!" We circled for a while; I figured he was more of an attacker, judging by his stance that looks like it would be easier to step forward to attack then backwards to dodge. Also, he was a guy, he wouldn't have enough patience to wait me out, actually, no one has the patience to wait me out.

He jumped towards me and launched a powerful round-the-house kick at my ribs, but I caught it and blocked with a forearm block, I guess knowing two martial arts are better than one. After blocking, he launched a quick jab to my face, in which I attempted to dodge. Just my luck, I was too slow, he managed to graze my check, but his momentum caused him to fall down face first, I guess he expected to get me… I through a karate chop at the middle of his back, causing him to bend slightly backwards, they always were my specialty.

I turned and kicked him with a low kick at his bottom, and of course I hit him straight on target. He fell forward as I tried to stop laughing; I swear I laugh at everything. He quickly spun around and got up, without me having time to react and hit his palm with extreme force against my nose, causing my head to shoot up and blood to squirt out. I ignored the pain and took a few steps back, pretending to be in serious pain, cupping my nose with both hands.

"You know, you can submit whenever you want," he suggested with a smug look on his face. Next thing I know, I'm in the air pulling off a jumping front snap kick square in the chest, causing Zach to have the wind blown out of him. "You know, you can submit whenever you want," I said, repeating the words Zach had said not half a minute earlier. He looked at me with a death glare, well, God help me, please? I wanted to win this, so while he was still winded I ran over and grabbed his arm. I twisted it making him turn so I had his arm behind his back.

I pushed him down and grabbed his other hand behind his back, leaving him lying on the floor, still slightly wounded with me holding his arms behind his back. "I submit," he called. I let him up and looked at Zara, who stood there with a completely shocked look on her face. "Did you know, you're one of the first people to beat their opponent in a recruitment test, usually only qualified agents win," she said, looking repeatedly back and forth between Zach and myself. We stood up again and got ready to fight.

Zara called go and we circled again, this time though, I attacked first. I launched a side kick at Zach's ribs, but he caught my foot and twisted it causing me to end up face down on the mat, basically in the same position we were in last time, only switched around. I knew I wouldn't get out of this and Zach was really heavy on my back so I called submit. Zach won two more and I won one, so I lost that match. Crab apples, I've probably failed that test now.

We walked back to the main building and headed to a classroom off to the side which was completely empty, except for the usual things like desks chairs and a whiteboard. On one of the desks at the front, there was a test, and let me tell you, it wasn't thin.

"You have one hour to complete the test, when that time is up, I will allow you to eat seeming as it is already eleven o'clock now, therefore you should be finished at twelve. There is a pen, pencil and eraser already there, good luck, your time starts now." Zara explained.

With that, I practically ran to the desk and sat down, beginning to flick through the test. I decided to begin on the numeracy part, seeming as that was my strongest point. I went through answering the questions as fast as possible and leaving working outs on the side of the page, not bothering to erase them afterwards. After about thirty minutes, I finished the numeracy section, having not had completed harder questions that I didn't understand. If I have time, I'll go through and answer them later, though I doubt I have time.

I moved on to the English part and got to work. After about twenty minutes, leaving me with ten minutes, I got up to the essay. I had to write an essay, in ten minutes, about the British intelligence and what it does to help us. I started on the introduction and found myself actually being able to write it, I was never that bad at essays, just other English stuff.

When I had five minutes left, Zara came in and told me; I had finished the introduction and was about three quarters though the first paragraph. What felt like ten seconds, but was actually five minutes, Zara came in and told me that my time was up and I could go to lunch while she marked. I had managed to finish up to my second body paragraph. At least that was better than nothing, but I still missed a lot of questions.

After Zara told me the way to the lunch room, I walked there, taking my time knowing that it didn't take less than half an hour to mark a test, especially one that long. I walked in to find it almost empty, but there was still food there. Finally! I have been waiting for food for way too long. Well, I have been, I haven't eaten for four days people! Even though I may or may not have been asleep, I still haven't eaten. I walked over to where the food was and a man was there.

"Ah, orange shirts, just take whatever you feel like eating, then go and eat it. Just a warning, no one can talk to orange," He said, gesturing the food piled up beside him. I took a plate of spaghetti bolognaise and sat down at one of the tables off to the side where I doubt anyone would sit.

After about five minutes, a group of people came in, most of them boys around my age, but there are still some girls, about three girls and seven boys. They walked to the food and all got something, I felt kind of stalker-ish sitting here, but who cares, I'm probably never going to see them again. I realised one of the boys was Zach, the guy from earlier.

After about ten more minutes of me sitting here eating silently, sneaking glances at them from time to time, I felt someone's stare on the back of my head. I quickly spun around, hoping to catch whoever was looking at. I turned around to see Zach looking at me. As soon as he realised I was looking at him, he turned back around and continued talking to his friends. If I somehow make it in, I wonder if I'll have friends or end up as a loner. Will I still act like a kid, like how Zach and all his friends are, or will I somehow become independent overnight?

Just as I was thinking about this, Zara entered, saying high to the other people (Zach and his friends) before heading straight over to me. I watched as everyone looked at me, most people just glanced, the girls smiled, but Zach was staring at me. He is seriously creepy, just saying.

"Well, Charlie, I have finished marking your test, will you like to come into my office?" she asks, how is she already finished marking the test? I stood and followed her, passing the group on the way, Zach, for some reason, still staring at me, what is his problem? Does he know how creepy and stalker-ish he looks right now?

I entered Zara's office and saw a cage on the desk, it was covered by a cloth but I could hear a chicken underneath. "Take a seat Charlie," Zara says, sitting on the other side of the table. I look down and see a pocket knife on the desk. Oh dear. I sit down and Zara lifts the cloth off the cage. Inside there sits a brown and white chicken, pecking at the table, seeming as there is nothing underneath the cage. "I want you to kill the chicken," says Zara, not a single emotion on her face. I look at the chicken, I can't do this, and I can't even kill a bloody cockroach! (I really hate them…)

I shake my head, no way am I killing it, even if it means I fail the test. "So are you saying you want to become a vegetarian?" she asks, catching me off guard. I shake my head; again, I really can't do this. "Then why won't you kill the chicken?" She continues. 'Why don't you shut up?' I think to myself in my head, not daring to say those words out loud. "Because, it's animal cruelty, and anyway, it's not like I eat the chicken alive." I reason, hoping she will not force me to kill it; it only reminded me of how that man killed my family, without one look back, with no regret from his actions.

"But someone has to kill it, it's going to die anyway," She starts again; this is really getting on my nerves. "But that person isn't going to be me," I say, hoping I can just flunk this test or something. "Okay, next test, we have to go outside," she states. To say I was relieved would be an understatement. Crab apple, now I've failed another test, just great.

We went outside and got into a golf kart, Zara driving and me in the passenger seat. We drove for a while until we stopped outside an assault course. I would have been fine, I usually like this sort of stuff, well, if it wasn't 50 feet into the air, well, I'm just saying that, really and truly I'm don't even know the measurements of feet and inches properly, I'm more of the metric conversion system.

"For the next test, you must complete this course; you will have the help of Jake to complete it. Jake was a sixteen looking year old standing at the bottom of the ladder. I sighed and walked over to him, hoping to get this over with. We began climbing the ladder, it was really tall, and I don't like tall things. When we got to the top, Jake followed behind me as I jumped over gaps in the floor and climbed ladders. Soon we reached a zip line with two harnesses on it. Oh dear.

Jake attached my zip line and explained that we had to jump off of it, jump too late, we land in a pool of… let's just say, not so pleasant stuff, jump too early… Ker-splat! He advised me to jump just after the last tree, this better bloody work. I jumped off and when I reached the tree, I counted to three and jumped, I landed on the ground with a thud and a dull ache in my heel. Oh great.

Lastly, we headed to a pool. "You need to jump in and retrieve that brick, take as many breaths as you want and take as long as you want. I suggest you do it as quickly as possible," Zara explains as I look to see the brick in the centre of the pool, at the bottom of cause. I stand on the edge and jump in; living in Australia means we usually go in the pool every day of summer, but never in winter. I go up to take a breath but breathe too quickly, I swallow water. I reach the surface and begin to cough; I see Jake at the side of the pool, ready to jump in if need be. I do thumbs up to let him know I'm okay.

I dive down but, once again, I time my breathing wrong. I take in another mouthful of water and start to struggle to breath. I swim for the surface, only to cough, and stop treading water. I go underwater again, but I can't get back up. I feel a hand grab onto my mine and pull me to the edge of the water and to the pool side. Well, that didn't go well.


	11. Chapter 10

Results

After my incident in the pool, I was told to go to a room to shower off, and change into a clean, dry set of clothes that are currently left out on my bed. I showered off and changed only to realise I then had to wait for the results, results that could determine my future. I sat down on the bed and thought about how I did in my tests. I found a piece of paper and a pen and decided to 'reflect' on how I did.

On my first test, I lost to Zach, most likely meaning I failed somehow. The second test, well, I don't know, I didn't finish the essay, or all the questions. Half of the questions I did complete were just guesses. The third test, with the chicken, I almost definitely failed, I refused point blank to kill the chicken, but

Looking back at how I did, I doubt I'm going to end up here, I'll probably end up in the care home until I'm eighteen and then get a crappy job, it's simple as that.

As I was thinking, the phone rang. I swear I nearly hit the roof with how high I jumped. I slowly walked over to it and picked it up; I never really noticed it was there… I picked it up to hear Zara's voice on the other end, "Charlie, you can come down to my office now, I have your results." I look at the time and realise that it had actually been a whole hour since I came up stairs and not just half an hour.

I walked slowly down the stairs, trying to delay the news as long as possible. When I reached the bottom floor, I wasn't puffed at all, I have always been able to go up and down stairs easily, and then fail at running on flat ground. I'm just awesome like that.

I go up to the reception lady and she waves me through to Zara's office. Well, here goes nothing, I think as I hesitantly knock on the door. After about ten seconds, I hear Zara call me in. I open the door silently and close it behind me. Zara is smiling sadly at me, Oh no, this is how they always try to sugar coat things, and they always act sympathetic. I walked over and sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the desk to Zara. Only now do I really take in the décor of the office. It has a couch and armchair sitting around a coffee table in the corner and a large window behind the desk allowing a lot of sunlight to enter. I look on the desk and see many photo frames set up on the desk, all with different things on them.

"So, I have come to a conclusion as to whether or not we will be excepting you into CHERUB," She begins, I brace myself for the news. "You past the first test with flying colours, never have we had someone do that well against one of our own. On the academic test, what you had done on your essay was very well done, plus you got well above average for the numeracy section, the majority of your English section was only average. The fifth test, the swimming one, you failed. You didn't retrieve the brick nor did you realise that you would be unable to retrieve it and back down from the challenge before-hand. The third and fourth test you succeeded and I would like to ask you to join CHERUB." I was shocked, so shocked that to say I was shocked beyond belief, was the understatement of the millennium.

I sat there with my mouth open as I tried to process what she had said. "Sweetie, again, just because we're in England, doesn't mean we don't have flies," Why? Why was I so embarrassing to myself? I snapped my mouth closed. I was so shocked. "We will give you two days to decide whether or not you want to come here, it'll take you about ten but you'll get two days in Australia seeming as you're going to be flown home and we can't reveal our location. I hope you don't mind us giving you another sedate, we just need to make sure to don't realise our location." She said, looking a tad bit guilty as to the fact that she had to do that.

I nodded my head to have her reply with a small sympathetic smile, but I think this one was real. She walked over and got me to lie down on the couch before pressing a needle into my arm. At first I was fine, but after a few seconds, I could feel the effects taking place and my eyes beginning to droop. I heard the door open but couldn't see because I was so tired. I felt a pair of arms lift me up and I could feel myself being carried, why wasn't I fully asleep yet? Shouldn't it be quicker than this? I could feel myself being placed into a van before the sounds began to fade and it was just darkness. I was finally falling asleep.


End file.
